Saturday, April 14, 2012

Did New Plymouth (NZ) Manufacture Agent Orange for the Pentagon?

http://www.dioxinnz.com/let-us-spray/L_U_S_part-02k.html
(This is the second of four blogs about the government cover-up of major health problems related to the production of dioxin-related chemicals at Dow AgroSciences in New Plymouth between 1948 and 1987)
It’s fairly common for the US and other European countries to ask New Zealand, owing to our lax environmental regulations, to manufacture and or test hazardous substances that are too controversial in their own countries. In 2005 the former MP and current mayor of New Plymouth claimed to have leaked documents revealing that New Plymouth’s Ivon Watkins Dow (IWD) plant secretly manufactured 2,4,5-T and 2,4 D for the Pentagon for use as “Agent Orange” in Vietnam. When combined, the two chemicals form large amounts of 2,3,7,8 TCDD, also known as dioxin. In 1969, around the same time the US embassy complained about high dioxin residues in beef and lamb exports, the US ended their use of Agent Orange to defoliate Vietnamese jungles. Contrast New Zealand, where the Government introduced a subsidy (in 1969) to encourage increased production and use of 2,4,5-T
READ MORE: http://stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com/2012/04/11/did-new-plymouth-manufacture-agent-orange-for-the-pentagon/

2 comments:

There is no credible evidence that Agent Orange was manufactured in New Plymouth.IWD did manufacture 245T and picked up extra markets when DOW had to increase production for the US forces and could not sustain domestic and export demand.